Saturday, January 20, 2018

Healthy Lettuce Wraps

Lettuce wraps, ready to eat!

We love Asian foods and many of the "fusion" styles that have come out lately melding different styles of cooking.

We also happen to love a chain called P.F. Chang's. One of their "signature" appetizers is something called a lettuce wrap. If you've been to P.F. Chang's, you likely know exactly what I'm talking about. The taste is fantastic. They are somehow both light (because of the lettuce) and filling at the same time.

We wanted to try these at home and this is what I have come up with. It's not an exact duplicate, but it is very close. It also satisfies those cravings we sometimes have without having to spend a lot of money.

I have made it with both ground chicken and turkey and can't really tell the difference between the two, so either will work.

If you love these like we do, or if you just want to give it a try you will be surprised at how simple this is. It's one of the simpler recipes I've ever written up and just takes a few minutes to make.

Ingredients

2 tsp olive oil

1/2 tsp sesame oil

1 pound ground chicken or turkey

4 cloves garlic, minced

1 small onion, diced

1/3 cup hoisin sauce

2 tbsp soy sauce

2 tbsp rice wine vinegar

1 tbsp freshly grated ginger

1 tsp sriracha (Optional. We don't care for hot foods in our house so we don't use this. If you love hot foods you may want to use more than one tsp.)

8 oz mushrooms, diced (Optional. I use shiitake when I can find them.)

8 oz carrots, diced fine (optional)

1 (8 oz) can sliced water chestnuts, drained

2 scallions, thinly sliced

salt and pepper, to taste

1 head butter lettuce (Boston or Bibb lettuce are basically the same thing so are interchangeable

Instructions

Add one tsp of olive oil and ground chicken or turkey to a large non-stick skillet. Cook the meat until it's just done while making sure to break it up, then drain any fat that you may have left and set aside.

Ground chicken/turkey after being browned and drained of fat

Add second tsp of olive oil and sesame oil to the pan, then add the onions (along with the mushrooms and carrots if using them). Let sauté until the onions are translucent, about two minutes.

Before cooking, after vegetables added to pan

After cooking vegetables for a few minutes

Add the garlic and sauté until fragrant (about 30 seconds). Be careful not to burn the garlic or it can get bitter.